Administrative Core The U54 Administrative Core will be responsible for coordinating the Partnership, supporting research, training and outreach efforts, and documenting Partnership activities and products. We include descriptions of CCNY and MSKCC Administrative Core members and staff in both proposals, to explain their complementary roles and joint activities more clearly. In fact, Administrative Core faculty and staff from both CCNY and MSKCC have worked together for the past six years, and are a well-integrated team. This level of integration will continue under the U54. Administrative core leadership has been instrumental in guiding our Partnership, locating resources, and helping us to work effectively within institutional policy. Core faculty and staff will continue to meet on a monthly basis and as needed to discuss implementation of the Partnership, to plan for upcoming events, and to troubleshoot problems that arise. In addition to Drs. Hubbard and Rapkin, Administrative Core members include: 6.1. Facilitating Partnership Faculty Research Fostering faculty collaborations is one of the Partnership's major activities. We will continue to generate interest in collaboration through calls for proposals, conferences and symposia, and networking. The Core will also handle requests by faculty seeking specific expertise, access to patients or specimens, or opportunities for students/fellows. In order to process requests, administrative staff will work with faculty members to put together a brief describing the faculty member's specific interests and questions, departmental affiliation and rank, and needs for a collaborator. This brief will be used to solicit input from LAC members, institutional leaders, and department heads. Note that we will also continue to maintain up-to-date links on our website to available online faculty information, to help investigators identify potential collaborators on their own. The Administrative Core will facilitate faculty access to resources available within our respective institutions, even when no collaboration exists. For example, CCNY investigators may make use of specific MSKCC Core Facilities or the Medical Library. They may want access to patients, animals, specimens or databases. The Core will handle such requests on a case by case basis. When necessary, we will strive to find MSKCC investigators willing to support the CCNY scientist's efforts. The Core will expedite every aspect of these arrangements, including IRB protocol development. We will ensure that CCNY investigators complete necessary HIPAA certifications and other MSKCC requirements. Access to MSKCC core facilities will also be arranged on a case-by-case basis. CCNY faculty members are able to access cores at the same costs and charge backs as internal MSKCC investigators. We will continue to provide centralized access through the Administrative Core to ensure that appropriate administrative and financial arrangements are in place. We also expect that MSKCC investigators and fellows will be interested in resources within specific CCNY laboratories and Centers. Examples include service-based learning programs in the Colin Powell Center, technical expertise in medical photonics, or biomedical engineering, input about immigrant cultures and beliefs from the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in America and the Caribbean, or advanced analytic methods from the Center for Computational Algorithms. Again, we will arrange access to these CCNY facilities on a case-by-case basis, as we do with MSKCC cores. We anticipate hiring a number of additional faculty members at CCNY to support the 054's objectives, and we also expect to add faculty in key areas at MSKCC. The Administrative Core will work with the IAC and relevant Departments at each institution to disseminate information, prepare job postings, convene joint search committees, obtain and distribute candidate materials, and arrange talks and interviews. The Administrative Core will also assist in setting up unique cost-sharing arrangements between MSKCC and CCNY, to support faculty salaries or start-up packages